Nick Diaz is officially back and welcoming him into the Octagon once again will be a former opponent in Robbie Lawler.
UFC President Dana White made the fight official on Tuesday via Kevin Iole before the UFC shared the news themselves. The September 25 UFC 266 bout will be only the second non-title non-main event UFC fight in history — the first being UFC 263’s welterweight pairing of Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz.
DONE DEAL: Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler, five rounder, Sept. 25, UFC 266 per @danawhite
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 13, 2021
Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz first met at UFC 47 in April 2004. At the time, both were just budding young prospects each with roughly the same experience — Diaz was 8-2 going in while Lawler was 8-1.
A fun first round of action didn’t last much longer than that as Diaz scored the knockout a minute and 31 seconds into round two. Both men have gone on to enjoy plenty of success in and out of the UFC since.
Unfortunately for both, recent years haven’t treated them too kindly. Lawler (28-15) is currently 1-5 in his last six since holding UFC gold — he’s lost four in a row with his last victory over Donald Cerrone coming in 2017.
For the 26-9 elder Diaz brother, he hasn’t fought since his January 2015 clash with Anderson Silva at UFC 183. The middleweight affair was originally scored as a unanimous decision loss for Diaz thus putting him on a three-fight losing streak. However, both men failed their post-fight drug tests which overturned the bout to a no contest.
Diaz last saw his hand raised in his UFC return against BJ Penn in October 2011. The rest of UFC 266 has yet to be finalized.
- Featherweight – 145lbs: (C)Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega
- Welterweight – 170lbs: Robbie Lawler vs. Nick Diaz
- Flyweight – 12lbs: Erin Blanchfield vs. Sarah Alpar
- Lightweight – 155lbs: Jalin Turner vs. Uros Medić
- Flyweight: Jéssica Andrade vs. Cynthia Calvillo
- Bantamweight – 135lbs: Marlon Moraes vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Heavyweight – 207-265lbs: Curtis Blaydes vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Flyweight: Roxanne Modafferi vs. Tatiana Suarez